Just like the Christmas song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, come March, the much awaited Samsung netbooks will be launched here in the Philippines with much funfare. I have personally seen Samsung notebooks a long time ago, at the Samsung Philippine office. I have seen Samsung notebooks being used at the office of Samsung and I have been asking them when will these notebooks become available here in the Philippines. And almost always, the answer is “in due time”.

Well I guess March 2010 is the due time they are talking about. In a recent Samsung press conference where Samsung Philippines presented their I.T. offerings – new printers, new projectors and new monitors, one that really caught my eye was the Samsung notebook being used for the demonstration. Again, I ask them when will your notebooks be available? And I got the same answer in due time – but this time with a little twist – Samsumg said they will be launching their netbook offerings come March.Read more »

It’s that time of the year again where we give our annual report on the most important technologies / products for the year 2009. These are the technologies that really made an impact in the industry. Technologies that have shaped the information technology world in a way we could never go back.

First, we would like to say that the “touch user interface” is the most important technology and innovation of 2009. Look at most of the mobile phones now, notebook and netbook computers, printers, and others – all adopted the touch user interface. We expect more device to adopt this technology and we also expect it to improve more.Read more »

Last December 1, 2009 – Canon Marketing Philippines had their annual media Christmas party. As expected, it was a blast. No less than its President and CEO Mr. Ramon Arteficio led the merriment. Mr. A (as he is fondly called by everyone) was in his usual happy mood – cracking jokes while giving away raffle prizes to his media friends.

While everyone is having fun, I can’t help but be sad as well. I am witnessing Mr. A’s last Christmas party with the Philippine press. Yes, you heard it right – the December 1 media party of Canon will be Mr. A’s last party with the press people.Read more »

We should not allow anything and anyone to stop us from learning – not even poverty. This is the very message why Efren Peñaflorida embarked into a project to teach less fortunate kids. For Efren, its a matter of opportunity and determination – education is within reach for everyone.

Because of his unselfish endeavor – Efren was nominated as one of the finalist of the prestigous CNN 2009 Hero of the Year.Read more »

I just finished conducting my annual Powertips seminar, this year its called “Techtutor”. This is the main reason why I was not able to update my blogs as often as I want to.

TechTutor is a seminar designed for educators, learners, parents and experts. The objective is to discuss how new technologies particularly Web 2.0 would change the way we teach, learn, share, collaborate, communicate and participate.

Guess how many attended the event–close to 5,000 attendees.Read more »

Technological achievements in the modern world are not only the convenience for the people around the globe, but also an incentive for the younger generations to review and develop their own thinking and ideas to advance the technology even further.

It is very important that every education, may it be from the lower primary to the PhD level, should all include the trace of technology in the process according to the level most suitable.

Even in any general education class or activity, the use of technology is highly encouraged for a better understanding and wider approach of the students from their very initial learning years.Read more »

The much awaited Nokia N97 arrives ahead of time when my editor Art Samaniego presented me the phone straight from our Manila Bulletin TechLab. Being with TechNews allows us to have the first crack to try and test the latest gadgets available in the market today.

Nokia is set to launch Nokia N97 here in the Philippines by June 25, 2009.Read more »

Microsoft recently announced that it will no longer reimburse the monthly data service charges of employees not on Windows Mobile devices. In other words, Microsoft will not reimburse its employees who decide to use a BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android-based device. This even if the employees are using the device for work purposes.

The policy took effect as part of the broader cost saving measures announced by Microsoft.Read more »

All the while I thought the sex video scandal involving Dr. Hayden Kho will die down soon. After the Senate investigation, people seem to lose interest or perhaps most of those who are interested has seen the video already.

If you watch the news, the topic is more of one party filing a case, or who is responsible for the uploading of the videos, and others. Believe it or not, I am thankful that such a scandal is no longer the headlines of newspapers or TV. But I was wrong.Read more »